Giovanni Trapattoni was a stickler for "the little details" during his time as Republic of Ireland boss, but it's the little details that can make or break your chances of pulling off an upset.
That was the case in Metz on Friday night when Eileen Gleeson's Girls in Green were beaten thanks to a sixth-minute Marie Antoinette Katoto goal that happened because the visiting defence switched off at a setpiece.
Late in the second half, in a rare foray forward, Leanne Kiernan went for goal when she could have squared it for Katie McCabe, free in the France penalty box.
Little details, big moments, but Gleeson was upbeat as she tries to re-energise her squad for Tuesday night's meeting with England.
"These are the decisions," Gleeson sighed when reminded of the Kiernan attack.
"Potentially, yeah she plays Katie in there and we're 1-1. We’ll be reviewing that, but in these moments, we can be shouting as much as we want from the sidelines. She doesn’t pick it out and we don’t come away (with a draw).
"(The goal) was back post and second ball, these are the areas we talk about. It didn't get organised quickly enough. The second ball didn't get picked up.
"We conceded early which is annoying and disappointing for us and the girls. But we still had to go another 90 minutes and we felt the girls put in a great shift and came away with a loss. But we’re not overly displeased with the performance."
The French had 21 attempts on goal to Ireland's one, which actually came via the top of a home defender's head after a long Megan Campbell throw-in.
The world No 3-ranked team are a lavishly talented outfit - physical, fast and laced with class.
There's no shame in losing to a team as good as France, but Ireland will need to find a way to take the fight to these big guns if they're to have any hope of picking up points in their Euro 2025 qualification group.
We know in this group the games are really tough, but the most important thing now is the recovery and the mindset shifts to Tuesday and getting a result against England.
"A good performance to work off," Gleeson reflected.
"We knew they’d have more of the ball than us, we spoke about it all week. We got the midfield closer to them in the second half and we edged ten yards in our starting line-up. At the end of it, Megan’s throws gave us a better transition from deep, a better way to get into that half and put them under pressure.
"We saw them adapting and bringing on their big headers. The players we brought on made an impact."
Courtney Brosnan was excellent again for her country, producing several fine saves to keep Ireland in it.
She had the home crowd on her back throughout as they cat-called her kick-outs in the belief Brosnan was wasting time.
"I was trying to tell the referee that I don't think you can be booked for time wasting if you’re losing!" the Everton keeper laughed.
"I said I was trying to best to continue kicking long but whatever, she told me to hurry it along and I tried my best. They had a great crowd here, I tried not pay too much attention and focus on the gameplan. Do what we can to win the game."
"That one result won't define the whole campaign and we can't look at it like that."
Brosnan also offered a positive assessment of the Irish display, adding: "France are one of the best teams in the world but we pushed at the end and had some chances. To concede so early is frustrating but we responded well. We need to bring the same energy against another tough side in England.
"It's always disappointing to concede but how you respond is just as important. It’s great that we were able to keep it at 1-0 to push at the end. We could have got something from the game but these things sometimes happen in football."
In the group's other game on Friday night England played out a 1-1 draw with Sweden. If Ireland can take anything off Sarina Weigman's reigning European champions in Dublin it would be an incredible boost, and make the stakes even higher for the next window in May and June.
Gleeson huddled her players together after the final whistle and told them to keep the faith.
"I was saying that we spoke about this," she said. "That one result won't define the whole campaign and we can’t look at it like that, that we had to have a performance that we could work off and build on for Tuesday.
"We know it was a 1-1 draw in the other game in the group and I think that’s going to be a picture across the group where teams will take points off each other, so we can’t be detrimental about one result here.
"We have to build on the performance. We knew it was going to be tough and it was tough, but I feel like the girls gave a good performance."
Watch Republic of Ireland v England in Euro 2025 qualifying on Tuesday 9 April from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on 2fm's Game On
